![]() In this episode, Joanna and Nekeisha interview Ashanti Alston Omowali. Ashanti is an anarchist activist, speaker, writer, and former member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army (BLA) and a former political prisoner. He was also the co-chair of the National Jericho Movement (to free U.S. political prisoners.) Ashanti came of age as the political action of the 1960′s was hitting its peak. He recalls struggling through Malcolm X’s biography as a teen and feeling awestruck at the 1967 rebellions that saw numerous American neighborhoods temporarily taken over by the people who lived there, including his home town of Plainfield, New Jersey. He joined the Black Panther Party while still in high school, starting a chapter in Plainfield, and later going underground with the Black Liberation Army. For a while, he straddled the above ground Panther work of selling newspapers and running breakfast programs with more aggressive underground tactics. In 1974 he was involved in a Connecticut “bank expropriation,” captured and imprisoned for 11 plus years. Today, Ashanti is active in the prison abolition movement (Critical Resistance and the Jericho Movement), in Anarchist People of Color organizing, and in efforts to connect organizers of colour in the north with the Zapatistas (Estacion Libre) in Mexico. He is also a loving father to his son Biko and partner to fellow change agent, Viviane Saleh-Hanna.
Comments
|
AboutThe Iconocast is a collective project of a handful of radical practitioners, separated by thousands of miles, each exploring the way of Jesus in the Empire. Usually, episodes follow an interview format. We don’t always interview Christians or anarchists. Rather, we interview those who we believe have some wisdom to share for those who are exploring the intersection of Christianity and anarchism. Archivesep. 74: L.M. Bogad
ep. 73: Sarah Pritchard & David Brazil ep. 72: Chude Allen, part 2 ep. 71: Chude Allen, part 1 ep. 70: Beth Roy ep: 69: Carol Lee & Sarah Lee ep.68: David Solnit ep. 67: Elaine Enns & Ched Myers on Audre Lorde ep. 66: Elaine Enns, Ched Myers and "Beyond Vietnam" ep. 65: Father Richard Smith ep. 64: Zephyr Elise ep. 63: Clayborne Carson ep. 62: Chris Carlsson ep. 61: Sara Miles ep. 60: Ellen Dahlke & Rick Ayers ep. 59: Dalit Baum ep. 58: Corrina Gould ep. 57: Kazu Haga ep. 56: Paul Kivel ep. 55: Lynice Pinkard & Nichola Torbett ep. 54: Joerg Rieger ep. 53: Bill Ayers ep. 52: Micky Jones ep. 51: Sandhya Rani Jha ep. 50: Willie Baptist ep. 49: Thomas Gokey ep. 48: Anthony Nocella ep. 47: Mark VanSteenwyk ep. 46: Vincent Harding ep. 45: Mary and Peter . . . ep. 44: Noam Chomsky ep. 43: Jin S. Kim ep. 42: Ashanti Alston . . . ep. 41: Shannon Kearns ep. 40: Richard Beck ep. 39: Starhawk ep. 38: Calenthia Dowdy ep. 37: Robert Ellsberg ep. 36: Bruce Levine ep. 35: Bob Ekblad (part 2) ep. 34: Bob Ekblad (part 1) ep. 33: Alexia Salvaterria ep. 32: Seth Donnovan ep. 31: Goshen and . . . ep. 30: James H. Cone ep. 29: Joyce Hollyday ep. 28: Jonathan Moyer ep. 27: Carolyn Griffeth . . . ep. 26: Eda Uca ep. 25: Ed Loring ep. 24: Murphy Davis ep. 23: Ragan Sutterfield ep. 22: An Hour on Power ep. 21: Fr. Richard Rohr ep. 20: Fr. John Dear S.J. ep. 19: Anton Flores ep. 18: Becky Garrison ep. 17: Stanley Hauerwas ep. 16: Rita Nakashima Brock ep. 15: Cornel West ep. 14: Onelilove Alston ep. 13: Carol Rose ep. 12: Seth Martin ep. 11: Gender, Sexism . . . ep. 10: Richard Horsely ep, 09: Brian McLaren ep. 08: Wes Howard-Brook ep. 07: Mary Jo Leddy ep. 06: Jim Douglass (part 2) ep. 05: Jim Douglass (part 1) ep. 04: Waziyatawin (part 2) ep. 03: Waziyatawin (part 1) ep. 02: Ched Myers ep. 01: Nekeisha Alexis |